


hakuna matata

by treblemakerz



Category: Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F, cady is a lion nerd, janis is a useless lesbian, regina is soft af and bad at hiding it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 06:04:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14710499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treblemakerz/pseuds/treblemakerz
Summary: janis and damian just wanted to give cady a little taste of home, but this was getting way out of hand.feat. disaster gays janis and regina and ultimate lion geek cady heron





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based on a few messages i got on tumblr about cady seeing the lion king for the first time at a movie night with the gang and not shutting up about it and regina singing along to be prepared, also it's gonna be janis/regina af

Janis Sarkisian was going to kill Regina George.

It all started two and a half weeks ago. Ever since Cady had gone back to “normal,” so to speak, Janis and Damian had noticed she seemed to be missing her life in Kenya a little more. High school was great, having human friends was great, but Africa was her home. And she missed the lions. So much.

In an attempt to provide Cady with bit of wildlife in the comfort of Janis’s garage, Damian suggested that they show her _The Lion King_. Janis brought up the idea of a Friday movie night to Cady, and the girl couldn’t have been more excited.

“This is gonna be so great! I know Gretchen and Karen have SAT prep, but I can invite Aaron and Regina!”

Janis couldn’t help but let out a small groan. Cady had been pushing hard for everyone to be friends and hang out as one big happy group, and Janis didn’t have the heart to tell her that things weren’t that simple. Though she had to admit, Gretchen and Karen had grown on her a bit. They were amusing. But Regina…things were still tense there. It’s not that Janis didn’t want to reconcile with her old friend (and admitted childhood crush), she just…didn’t know how.

—

Friday night came and Janis found herself squeezed between Damian and Regina on her old garage couch, Cady and Aaron sitting on the floor with his arm around her shoulders, as _The Lion King_ ’s title card came up on screen.

Cady’s eyes immediately widened. “Is this a lion documentary? I love lions!”

“We all know, Cady,” Damian smiled, “and this is even better than a documentary.”

That earned a pretty dramatic eye roll from Regina. “When Cady told me you guys were having a movie night, I figured we’d be watching, like, _The Devil Wears Prada_ or something. Not some Disney movie I haven’t seen since I was seven.”

Before anyone could formulate a comeback, the music had started and Cady was shushing them all, looking at the television in wide-eyed wonder.

—

The next half-hour or so passed by in relative silence, aside from Cady piping up every now and then with a fun fact about one of the species of animated creatures onscreen.

Janis hadn’t been paying much mind to Regina until, towards the middle of “Be Prepared,” her ears picked up on something.

“I know it sounds sordid, but you’ll be rewarded when at last I am given my dues…”

Holy shit. Regina was singing.

Granted, it was more of a mumble, and completely imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t sitting as close as Janis was, but still.

Janis turned and opened her mouth to tease the girl, thankful for an opportunity to knock her down a peg. But she stopped when she took a good look at Regina. She seemed…not exactly happy, but…content? Peaceful?

Something told Janis not to fuck that up.

So she shut her mouth and just smirked at the thought of apex predator Regina George enjoying the most fitting song in the Disney catalogue.

—

Less than ten minutes later, something even stranger happened.

As Scar threw Mufasa off the cliff, Cady let out a cry and buried her head in Aaron’s shoulder. But in between Cady’s sobs, Janis heard a sniffle come from her left. Looking over in confusion, she saw Regina, tears welling up in her eyes. In that moment, the normally terrifying girl just looked small.

A part of Janis told her she should be angry. Regina could inflict so much pain and anguish on her former best friend without batting an eye, but it’s a goddamn Disney movie that finally brings her to tears?

But something else nagged at her. It was the realization that it had been years since she’d seen Regina this vulnerable. It’d been years since she’d sat this close to her, close enough to smell her perfume (the same one she’d used when they were thirteen), close enough to see the freckle right under her jawline that she was always so self-conscious about. Close enough to remember just how enamoring Regina's beauty was. And in that moment, Janis’s instinct is just to comfort her.

So she put an arm around Regina. The blonde stiffened, quickly turning to Janis with an expression that almost screamed “what do you think you’re doing?” But Janis just raised an eyebrow, and after looking at her for a few seconds, Regina’s eyes softened and she slowly, tentatively, rested her head on Janis’s shoulder.

They spent the rest of the movie that way. When it ended, Regina bolted up as if she’d been in a daze. She left with just a brief goodbye.

—

Normally, Janis would be overanalyzing what had happened with Regina that night and devising the best way to confront her about it. But that proved pretty hard to do when Cady wouldn’t. Fucking. Stop. Talking. About. The. Fucking. Lion. King.

“Guys, did you know ‘hakuna matata’ ACTUALLY means ‘no worries’ in Swahili? I just think it’s so cool that they used real Swahili!”

“Janis! I found out that The Lion King has a blooper reel! Look, it’s on YouTube, here, watch—“

“Kevin told me that The Lion King is based on a play called _Hamlet_. Is _Hamlet_ about lions, too?”

Cady had gone to the library to watch the movie at least once a day for the last week. It was getting ridiculous. Eventually, Janis got there before her and hid the disc in a book about SeaWorld. Cady would never find it there.

Eleven days into the obsession, Janis FINALLY got Cady to stop talking about that damn movie. I mean, Jesus, she and Damian had just wanted to give Cady a little taste of home, but this was getting way out of hand.

It was fine, though. It was over. There was peace again.

Until today.

—

“JANIS!”

Janis turns to see Cady running towards her locker at full speed.

“Janisdidyouknowthat—“

“Whoa. Cady. Slow down. Normal pace, please.”

Cady takes a breath. “Did you know that there’s a _Lion King_ musical on Broadway? I watched it last night and it’s just so amazing and—“

Janis’s eyes widen. Shit. She’d been so careful to make sure Cady didn’t find out there was a damn stage musical.

“Wait, how did you watch it? We live in Illinois. Broadway is in New York.”

“Oh! Regina taught me all about bootlegs. She sent me one of _The Lion King_ yesterday!”

Oh, you’ve _got_ to be kidding.

Balling her fists, Janis turns and stalks off in the direction of Regina’s locker.

Yep. Janis Sarkisian was going to _kill_ Regina George.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm splitting this in half so part 2 going to be all about janis and regina being in lesbians with each other yay


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this only took a million years to post i'm so sorry
> 
> sidenote i wrote this chapter while slightly intoxicated so i'm sorry if it's bad/has a lot of awful grammar lmao
> 
> ft. a hotheaded janis and incredibly insecure regina

By the time Janis makes it to Regina’s locker, her anger has only grown. She slams the locker door shut and is faced with a very-startled-but-trying-to-save-face Regina.

“What’s up, Jan—“

“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me! What is  _wrong_ with you? Why would you do this to me?”

Regina, having quickly put the pieces together and trying not to bust out laughing, feigns innocence. “I haven’t done anything to you.”

“Why…WHY would you send Cady a bootleg of _The Lion King_ musical?”

“Why wouldn’t I? The girl clearly misses her lions and enjoyed the movie so much that it would have been cruel NOT to show her! And we all know I’m trying to be nicer, turn over a new leaf or whatever. Isn’t that what you _want_?” Regina says with a shit-eating grin.

“Don’t tell me that you didn’t do this just to piss me off, Regina! God, I’m so fucking sick of you going out of your way to make my life hell. I knew that whatever happened the other night was a fluke. You’re still the same old bitch, despite whatever front you’re putting up now.”

With that, Janis turns and walks off. Something in her head is telling her that she’s overreacted, screaming that she’s just on edge because of all the feelings that had resurfaced that night in her garage. But it’s too late now to just turn around and take it back. So she keeps going.

Regina is left watching her, stunned and hurt and not having expected that at all.

Just then, Cady runs up to her.

“Hey Regina, can you drive me to Target after school? I found out that they have shirts that say ‘hakuna matata’ and—“

“CADY! NOT NOW!”

—

The events of that morning stay on Janis’s mind all day. In every class that she has with Regina, the blonde is visibly cold towards her, so much so that Damian sends a few curious looks her way that she ignores.

She’s in the art room during her free period, blindly attacking the canvas in front of her, when she hears dainty footsteps approach and stop a few feet away.

“Nice painting. I love the colors!”

Janis looks briefly at her work, made entirely of black and grey, before turning her head to see Karen grinning back at her. She can’t help but flash a small smile in return. Karen is like a puppy: to hate her is to be heartless.

“Hey Karen, what’s up?”

“Nothing! Regina’s crying and told me to go away so I thought I’d come hang out with you! You weren’t answering your phone, though.”

Turning and picking up her phone, Janis sees a string of unanswered messages consisting entirely of emojis. Then the rest of Karen’s words sink in.

“Why’s Regina crying?”

Karen, still smiling, rolls her eyes. “Because she likes you, silly! She just shows it differently. Do you know about the rule of twos?”

Remembering what Cady had told her about Karen’s shockingly genius moment of insight when she’d been suspended, Janis nods.

“Well,” Karen continues, “Regina did something to make you mad. But she really just wanted some reason for you to come talk to her. And now she thinks you hate her. Which is stupid! Because you like her, too. Obvs.”

Well, fuck. This is a whole lot for Janis to take in. She stands up and starts to head for the door, stopping only to ask where Regina is.

“The bathroom in the science wing. But wait, I thought we were gonna hang out!”

“Another time, Karen. Sorry!”

Karen watches her go, letting out a sigh. “Sad face emoji.”

—

Janis makes it to the bathroom in record time. The moment she walks in, she hears sniffling coming from the big stall on the end. She makes her way over and knocks softly.

“Go away,” Regina hisses in the iciest tone she can muster.

“Regina? It’s just me. Let me in.”

A few seconds pass before Janis hears the stall’s lock click open. Pushing the door open, she sees Regina George, in all her glory, curled up on the ground in the corner. Janis moves to sit next to her.

“Karen came to talk to me. She’s pretty intuitive for…well, for Karen.”

Regina looks up and gives Janis a questioning look. There are still tears in her eyes, and Janis can’t make herself feel vindicated that Regina is finally crying over _her_.

“She seems to think that you…uh…have a thing for me?”

She expects Regina to laugh, or make some terrifying threat on her life like she would have done last year. But Regina just looks sad, and that honestly scares her more. So she pushes forward.

“Why didn’t you just talk to me? Why go through this back-and-forth of being touchy and soft with me one second and then trying to get me riled up the next?”

“Because I don’t know how else to talk to you!” Regina groans. “I tried letting my guard down with you at movie night, but then you practically ignored me and I didn't know how else to send a message. I’ve spent so many years hurting you that I don’t know where we stand, or what’s okay to say and what’s not, or if you even have any desire to speak to me at all. But at least when you’re mad, your attention is on me. Clearly, that backfired.”

Janis sighs. “I overreacted this morning, and I’m sorry. But you can’t blame me. I had to put up a lot of defenses to make it through the hell you caused.”

“I know. And I’m sorry. What you said to me today, about me being the same old bitch…it scared me. Because maybe I am. Maybe I’m not trying hard enough to change. Maybe that soft part of me that I let you see the other night was just an act. I don't know.”

“Regina—“

“No, it’s fine. You don’t owe me any kindness. Let’s just keep hanging out with the group and pretend like none of this ever happened, okay? I don’t expect you to really be my friend. Or anything more, for that matter.”

Janis’s eyes meet Regina’s, before moving down to the blonde’s lips. Her brain is screaming at her to stop, but her heart drags her forward, inch by inch.

Kissing Regina George isn’t at all like she pictured it would be when she used to fantasize about it in eighth grade. It wasn’t fiery and rough and filled with lust. It was warm and soft and slow; it was years of yearning in silence bleeding out into one overdue moment of connection.

But then Regina’s pulling away and scoffing.

“What was that, a pity kiss? I don’t need your sympathy, Janis.”

Janis can see Regina’s walls going back up in the way her face hardens. She puts a hand on Regina’s cheek to stop her thoughts in their tracks.

“No. It was something I’ve been wanting to do for almost five years now. You know, between wanting to ruin your life and all.”

Despite herself, Regina lets out a giggle, and Janis smiles, bringing her hand down. Regina grabs it in her own.

“This is gonna take a lot of work, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah. We have a  _lot_ of baggage to sift through. But let’s start with never intentionally pissing me off to get my attention again, okay?”

Regina rolls her eyes. “If you insist. I'll only piss you off because you're just a little bit hot when you're angry.”

Janis leans in to kiss her again. Completely lost in one another, they don’t notice someone else is in the bathroom until the stall door is violently slammed open.

It’s Cady, wearing a brand new shirt that says “Hakuna Matata” (it’s unknown how she acquired this shirt, as she only found out Target carries them a few hours ago, but one should never question Cady Heron when it comes to _The Lion King_ ), panting and waving her arms around.

“GUYS, I JUST FOUND OUT THERE’S A _LION KING 2_!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you gwen for informing me of target's hakuna matata shirts
> 
> send me headcanons, shitposts, whatever at treblemakerz.tumblr.com


End file.
